


the great escape

by PinkHydrangea



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Genre: F/M, berkut falling out a window?? good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 23:31:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11861910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkHydrangea/pseuds/PinkHydrangea
Summary: The window is the only way to escape Rinea's room, away from prying eyes, in the dead of night, but it's a truly terrible foe. // aka, Berkut tries to sneak out of Rinea's window and falls and Zeke wishes he has seen nothing





	the great escape

**Author's Note:**

> so [Eva](https://twitter.com/EvaBeeSmith) and [Milou](https://twitter.com/vestariares) are the reason this happened,, they told me they were talking abt Berkut sneaking out of Rinea's room and Zeke finding him and being So Tired, I HAD TO WRITE

In Rigelian high society, it’s considered taboo and morally grievous to physically consummate a relationship before marriage. Couples are to engage in a chaste courtship, where it’s considered improper to so much as hold hands while walking through the halls. The higher your status, the more carefully you are watched, the more old gossiping ladies snap at you, grabbing their chests and wavering at the scandalous display.

Courtesans are particularly hard on Berkut and Rinea, because Berkut is the crown prince, the shining example to everyone else, and Rinea is lowly and unworthy. Hell, Berkut can’t breathe in Rinea’s direction without someone giving him a shocked look and reminding him, “The taboo, milord, the taboo! If you truly insist on marrying her, you must keep pure.”

And yet?

They break the taboo.

Berkut doesn’t really know how it happened. One second, he’s stolen away to Rinea’s guestroom, as he does often in the night, just for a chat. They’re frustratedly talking about not being able to so much as hold hands in the halls, irately discussing the gossiping old courtesans, and then Berkut notices that she looks very pretty in her nightgown, and that her hair smells of roses, and that her lips are soft and sweet.

And then their clothes are on the floor, they’re on the bed, and the taboo is broken, smashed into little pieces, and Berkut doesn’t really give a damn.

He doesn’t give a damn until they’re done, and they hear footsteps outside the hall.

He’s lacing his boots back up, and Rinea has her nightgown in her hand, and they give each other wide-eyed, panicked looks as the steps get closer, and closer, and then stop in front of her door.

“Oh no,” Rinea says, and then whomever is outside speaks.

“We can’t find Lord Berkut,” a stuffy voice, whom Berkut pins as belonging to the captain of the guard, says.

He’s annoyed that this is all the captain says, and that he doesn’t even politely knock to announce his presence, or address Rinea by name, but it doesn’t seem to bother her.

“O-oh?” She’s forcing her voice to keep calm, but he can see the panic in her eyes. “Well, I-”

“We sincerely hope he is not in with you,” the captain says curtly. “We’ll be coming in to investigate.”

Berkut’s heart jumps into his throat, and Rinea has turned as pale as a sheet. She can’t just say “Don’t come in,” because that’s really suspicious, and they wouldn’t respect her anyway. If they’re caught, quite literally with their pants down, they’ll be in for the scoldings of their lives. Berkut knows that he’ll get a few slaps on the wrist, but there’s no doubt that Rinea may be punished with a few lashes from a whip, given the court’s distaste for her.

He jams his foot into his remaining boot, not bothering with lacing it up, and frantically looks about while Rinea comes up with an excuse.

“U-um, don’t come in yet!”

Berkut wonders if he could fit under the bed. No.

“Pray tell, why can we not?”

The closet? No, they’ll look there for sure.

“Oh, well, I’m just getting ready for bed, you see. Just give me a few minutes to make myself proper, and-”

The captain scoffs. “Thirty seconds, then we’re coming in.”

Rinea throws her nightgown over her head, hurriedly pulling her hair out of the neckline, and hisses, “What do we do?”

Berkut is still looking around madly, his shirt clenched in his hands, and then he spies the window. He doesn’t know why he didn’t think of it before, but he’s glad he’s seen it now. He rushes over to it, careful to make certain his footsteps aren’t too loud, and opens it up.

“Don’t you dare,” Rinea warns. “This is the second floor, my lord. You can’t jump out!”

“Twenty seconds, madam,” the captain calls.

Berkut’s heart is hammering, and he throws one leg through the opening. “There are bushes below, and I’m sturdy. I’ll be fine.”

“Berkut!”

“I’d rather break a bone or be sore than have you whipped,” he snaps, and she shuts her mouth and gives him a glare.

“I’m sorry,” he says, and he keeps leaning out the window slowly. “I shouldn’t have- I mean, I didn’t- Did you enjoy yourself?”

“Yes, I did! Now just stay alive so we can enjoy ourselves again, you fool.”

“Pardon us, we’re coming in.”

Berkut doesn’t have time to apologize for their first time being so hasty and unplanned, or for the guards knocking at her door, because he leans too far while he turns back to look at her, stumbles, and falls out the window.

He doesn’t hear Rinea’s reaction, but he does hear the window slam shut a second after he falls out, and thinks, “Wow, really?”

The castle, fortunately, is not tall. The second floor is still relatively close to the ground, but the fall still gives him a good five seconds to panic and cuss (“Oh, gods, damn, shit!”), before he lands in the bushes below.

It hurts, way more than he expected, but he doesn’t feel anything break. He didn’t hit his head. He’s still got his shirt clenched in his hands. He’s able to move all his limbs, and so he’s pretty sure he’s not dead, either.

Berkut groans and picks himself up out of the bushes, grumbling to himself. There are little leaves in his hair, and he picks them out, trying to step over the plants and foliage. In the dead of night, there’s no one about, especially not in the back gardens that Rinea’s room looks over, and he’s glad-

Except, wait.

There is someone about.

Berkut freezes, caught like a deer in lamplight, halfway through stepping over a bush, his shirt still clutched in his hand. General Ezekiel looks back at him from the garden path, his eyes wide in shock.

Neither of them say anything.

General Ezekiel looks at the window above, where he must have seen Berkut fall from, and then back at him. Berkut could easily blame his disheveled appearance–the wrinkled clothes, the messy hair, the little bruises–on his fall, but he knows that General Ezekiel is too sharp to believe that lie.

Also, he cannot explain being shirtless on the fall.

“That’s Lady Rinea’s room?” Ezekiel asks.

Berkut doesn’t say anything, mortification flooding him.

General Ezekiel looks tired, so tired, as he takes a heaving sigh, turns his gaze back forward, and keeps walking. He walks as though he hasn’t seen anything, but he has seen too much.

Much more than he wanted to see.

Berkut stumbles out of the bushes, his soreness forgotten, and finally finds his voice. He calls out after the general, “You better not tell anyone about this, hear me?! Rinea could get in a lot of trouble.”

General Ezekiel keeps walking, and he doesn’t look back.

Berkut can feel the despair and exhaustion pouring off of him, and he thinks that their secret is safe with him, if only because General Ezekiel desperately wants to forget about it.

Poor guy.

**Author's Note:**

> Zeke just wanted to go on a walk. he just wanted to go on a walk. he just wanted


End file.
